Dr. Mark Lyons
Dr. Mark Lyons
President and CEO
Dr. Mark Lyons grew up in the Alltech business, having traveled with his father and Alltech’s founder, Dr. Pearse Lyons, from a young age to visit customers. With experience working in all regions and nearly all departments — before even officially joining Alltech — he has a deep and uniquely personal knowledge of the company. Based on Alltech’s belief that agriculture has the greatest potential to positively shape our world’s future, he launched the Planet of Plenty™ vision in 2019. He has called for collaboration to provide nutrition for all, revitalize local economies and replenish the planet’s natural resources.
Dr. Lyons began his career at Alltech focused on the development of the company’s core nutritional technologies. He spearheaded many critical projects, including simultaneously managing the establishment of a plant in Serbia and the creation of Alltech’s flagship yeast production facility in São Pedro, Brazil. He also spent nearly four years in Mexico rebuilding the company’s solid state fermentation plant in Serdán, which is one of the largest of its kind in the world.
Under his leadership as director of North America from 2009 to 2011, Alltech expanded its presence with the opening of new offices and a growing involvement in all agricultural sectors. In 2012, Dr. Lyons relocated to China, the world’s largest feed market, as part of Alltech’s focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Living in Beijing and traveling throughout the country, he led the Alltech China office and focused on building bridges between China and the wider industry through research, education and strategic initiatives.
Today, Dr. Lyons is based at Alltech’s headquarters in Kentucky, USA. He is active in many industry groups. He has published papers and patents in areas ranging from enzyme production to global economics and is interested in the assurance of food safety and quality throughout the entire food chain.
Dr. Lyons received his bachelor’s degree in political science and environmental science in 1999 from the University of Chicago. He received his master’s degree in brewing and distilling in 2001, followed by a Ph.D. in the area of solid state fermentation, at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh in 2008. Dr. Lyons is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, French and German, and he has a working knowledge of Mandarin.
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